Parents, Staff, Faculty and Students,

The Spring 2010 Book Fair, through Secret Garden Book Store, was a fabulous success. Your purchases earned approximately $1100 for library books.  We hope you enjoy the books you purchased as much as our students will enjoy the new books we are now able to purchase with the Book Fair funds.   We are also thankful for the many books that were purchased for the Villa Library Wish List and the Birthday Book programs.  Our children will enjoy many new books for years to come, due to your generosity.

Many, many thanks are offered to our wonderful volunteers!  These parents helped the students with book selection, estimating the cost of purchases with tax, counting money and making change. A special “thank you” goes to the following volunteers: Anita P, Laurie B, Lisa P, Jenny P, Laurie A, Jeannine M, Hilary G, Claudine L, Wendy G, Alison A, Amy F, Lynn B, and Kathleen C.

Special events such as the Book Fair could not happen without Villa’s Facilities Department personnel.  We truly appreciate the “behind-the-scenes” efforts, putting up banners and setting up tables.

The staff and management at Secret Garden were extremely supportive and knowledgeable.  The book selection was perfect for Villa’s clientele. It is always a pleasure partnering with them for this event.  Sometime when you are in Ballard, stop in and visit their cozy bookstore on Market Street and enjoy the incredible customer service!

Again, many thanks to all the Villa families, friends, staff and faculty who contributed to the success of the Spring Book Fair!

Karen Strand & Leslie Keeney

Patrick M. took a fourth place at the North Deanery Science Fair at Blanchet High School on Thursday, March 25th, among stiff competition.

His experiment, “Washing Away”, was about the effects of vegetation on soil erosion. He measured the amount of soil that came out of six trays with grass and six without grass.  Patrick poured water on the trays, each at a 15 degree angle, and measured the amount of soil that was washed away.  His hypothesis was “If a tray on a fifteen degree angle has grass on it then the soil will erode less than a tray without grass on it, because the grass
roots will hold the soil”.

The data showed that there was fifty times more soil eroded from the trays without the grass growing in it.

Way to go Patrick!

Please note the the date of the event has been changed to April 29th

Lent is a season of simplicity, self-reflection, and Christian growth – An excellent time for spiritual spring-cleaning and a perfect opportunity to reflect on our service to others.

One of the highlights of the Lenten season is the fourth grade’s annual Empty Bowls Soup Dinner.

On Thursday, April 29^th our fourth grade students will prepare a simple soup supper. That evening, at 5pm in the Villa Cafeteria, students will host their families and friends to dinner. Soup will be served in bowls that were handmade by the student’s themselves as part of the art curriculum in Ms. Kunselman’s class.

Bowls, as well as the soup, will be for sale, with all proceeds going directly to Food Lifeline, a local hunger relief organization, serving Western Washington.

This annual fundraiser is a continuation of the fourth grade’s yearlong service project. Each class has already visited the Food Lifeline Distribution Center twice this year to assist with the sorting and packaging of food donations.

Empty Bowls is a grassroots effort to bring money and awareness to the fight against hunger. Events like this take place across the country several times a week throughout the entire year, and Villa Academy is proud of its fourth grade for their participation!

Save the Date: Thursday, April 15, 2010, 7:00 PM, Villa Parlor. Come Learn about the Seattle Archdiocese Safe Environment Program, including the following components:

Called to Protect, for Ministries: Training for all clergy, employees and applicable volunteers, including all CYO Sports Coaches.

Called to Protect, for Parents & Families: Training for parents, families and all interested in learning how to protect children.

Called to Protect, for Youth: A three-part series that teaches 7th grade students about boundaries, how to respond if someone tries to violate their boundaries and how to tell someone if they or a friend have been abused.

Talking About Touching: A research-based, age-appropriate, personal safety curriculum designed for children in Kindergarten through Third Grade.

Come learn about all of these programs, and how they are currently being used, or will be used at Villa.  The evening will be hosted by Polly Skinner and Jody Elsner. We hope you can join us!

Holy Thursday:  All students are asked to bring one can/box of food by Thursday, April 1, 2010, as part of our offering to the St. Vincent de Paul Food Bank at St. Bridget Parish.  These gifts will be an integral part of our Holy Thursday prayer services in the Villa Chapel at 9:30am and 10:25am on April 1, 2010.  Lower School students may bring food to their homerooms and Middle School students may bring offerings to their advisory, any time before April 1.

During Lent we focus on prayer, personal sacrifice and service to others. Our simple meal will draw the students’ attention to those less fortunate among us. View the March menu for details of what will be included in the meal. One dollar for each meal purchased will be donated to Catholic Relief Services, Operation Rice Bowl. Click here for details about Operation Rice Bowl. Students will be served only once; there will be  no second helpings served on Wednesday, in keeping with our theme.  We will begin each meal in the lunchroom with a special prayer.

The Villa Academy administration, faculty and staff offer our heartfelt gratitude for the lovely luncheon and gift bags prepared for each of us last Thursday! In the midst of a busy day and week we were “transported” to an elegant restaurant and served like royalty. Thank you Parent Association Appreciation Committee for the planning, cooking, serving, organization of notes and  preparation of gift bags, and procuring extra help at recess and in the lunchroom to allow  faculty time to enjoy the lunch. Thank you Villa families for your kind notes, drawings and gifts.

Spring is on the way and so is the first Villa Academy Ultimate game.  Thanks to Roger Crafts, a Fall 2009 addition to the Middle School faculty, Ultimate Frisbee has returned to campus. Practice is already underway and the season kicks off this Friday, March 19^th at Magnuson Park.

The object of the game is to score points by passing to a teammate in the opposing end zone, as in Rugby or Football.  Players throw a disc rather than a ball, and, like Basketball, players may not run while holding the disc.

An 8^th grade group first approached Mr. Crafts with the idea of revitalizing an Ultimate team.  Many of these students had played in 4^th or 5^th grade and wanted to see the team revived.  Mr. Crafts was the right person to ask!

In his short time at Villa, Mr. Crafts has already fostered a spirit of student-led initiatives as the advisor of Villa’s “Green Team”.  He brings the same spirit, along with an impressive athletic background, to the new Ultimate team.

Mr. Crafts competed on a nationally ranked Ultimate team at Carleton College. Since college, he has won three Club National Championships with the Seattle Sockeye men’s team and played in two World Tournaments. Although he says he has retired from competitive play, Mr. Craft now coaches and is the co-director of the DiscNorthwest Seattle Youth Ultimate Camps.

He was pleased with the students’ suggestion of starting an Ultimate team and admits, “I was planning to create a program next year, but they beat me to it.”

Mr. Crafts believes that “Ultimate is an ideal sport for middle school students . . . the self-officiated nature [of the game] goes way beyond typical sports in teaching teamwork, respect, and sportsmanship.”

This seems to be true. Already, students have taken the reigns on a project to design their own team t-shirts. Noah C. ‘10 designed the team logo and Jack T. ‘10 illustrated the final drawing.

Villa has two teams this year – one 7^th / 8^th grade team and one 6^th grade team. An overlap with the volleyball schedule made recruiting enough girls for a separate team difficult. So this year both teams are co-ed.

Support your school and its budding Ultimate team at their upcoming games.

Click here for the schedule.

Attention Grade 5 Parents: You are cordially invited to join me for a presentation on what to expect from your child as s/he moves along the bumpy road to young adulthood. You will hear about the developmental characteristics of the middle school student as well as how the wonderful teachers in Villa’s middle school help students manage and succeed through the turbulent Wonder Years. Please plan to attend one of the sessions listed below.

WHAT: JUST WHAT IS A MIDDLE SCHOOLER, ANYWAY?

WHEN: Wednesday, April 21, 6:30pm or
Thursday, April 22, 8:40am

WHERE: Villa Academy Parlor

Spring Book Fair:  March 22 – March 26

8:20am – 3:30pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday

8:20am – 2:15pm Wednesday and 8:20am – 12:00pm Friday

The Spring Book Fair is in the Rainbow Theater March 22nd through March 26th and is open during regular student hours and closes at noon on Friday. Please see the class schedule below. This event is a fundraiser for our library so please take advantage of this opportunity to purchase wonderful books, encourage reading, and support the Villa Library. Please make checks payable to “Secret Garden.”